Cold fear A thriller

When we last saw Navy SEAL Finn (Steel Fear, 2021), he had jumped ship on the way to San Diego, convinced that he was being set up as the fall guy for an op gone wrong in Yemen and would likely be assassinated before he could stand trial. The problem remains that Finn, suffering from PTSD, can't remember what happened in Yemen and, worse, whether he was in fact involved in the war crimes that took place there. Hoping to determine which of his fellow SEALS may have orchestrated the Yemen fiasco, he tracks three of his associates to Iceland, where they have been deployed on a new assignment. Matters are complicated on two fronts: an assassin, every bit as skilled as Finn in the dark arts, is on his tail, and he becomes a suspect in the murder of an unidentified woman. As they did in Steel Fear, coauthors Webb and Mann expertly juggle multiple plot strands, as Finn works together with a Reykjavík detective, Krista Kristjánsdóttir--a compelling character in her own right--who can't quite decide if her inadvertent helper is an ally or a murderer. Like Randy Wayne White in his Doc Ford series, the authors combine genuine talent for old-school adventure (including realistic, detailed depictions of violence) with a full-bodied portrait of an introspective, good-hearted yet deeply troubled hero.

This superlative sequel to 2021's Steel Fear from bestsellers Webb and Mann takes former Navy SEAL Finn to Iceland. Finn's SEAL unit had been stationed in Yemen, where some of its members massacred unarmed civilians, and Finn's memory gaps have left him uncertain as to his role in the atrocities. He's seeking out three former colleagues, who are in Iceland on a covert op, but he's also being pursued by a sadistic and highly skilled assassin, who once saved Finn's life in the field and is now trying to fulfill a contract to kill him for an unknown employer. The parallel cat-and-mouse plots overlap with one involving the mysterious death of an unidentified woman, found frozen to death in a Reykjavík pond with a cryptic message written on her scarred abdomen with lipstick. Finn becomes involved in that mystery as well, collaborating with a maverick police detective, Krista Kristjánsdóttir, who's strong enough to sustain her own series. The balance of action and characterization is perfect, and Jack Reacher fans will find much to like in Finn. This complex, suspenseful thriller proves that the authors' collaborative fiction debut was no fluke. Agent: Alyssa Reuben, William Morris Endeavor. (June)

Prologue A deserted city street. The distant ruckus of drunken revelers, laughter, Christmas carol fragments. Under the faint glow of streetlights a flurry of snowflakes drifts to the frigid cobblestone surface, then swirls aside as a girl sprints past. Bare feet. No coat. Mid-twenties. She darts through an intersection. Then another. Street names she can't pronounce. On a wild guess she takes a left at the next corner and runs another block before stopping, bent over, hands on knees, breathing like a trapped animal. There's nothing but the silence of the snow and her own rapid panting. She looks around, frantic. Has she gone too far? Takes off running again. Squinting at the street signs, pleading for them to make sense. Fighting back the urge to stop and scan the darkness behind her. The sound of her feet slapping the slick street surface drums against her ears . . . images explode through her mind--the mines . . . the Englishman . . . the lake house-- She pushes them away. Her feet are bleeding, but she has to keep going. She has to-- Wait. Was that a glimpse of someone passing on the far side of the street? She slows long enough to peer back through the murk. No one there. She spat out the last pill, but the drugs are still too strong. She can't tell what is hallucination and what is real. Keep going. Her feet slapping the cobblestones . . . the mines . . . the Englishman . . . She won't make it. It was a crazy idea. Should have known it was pointless to try. She reaches the next corner-- And there it is. Spread out before her like a banquet. She stops again, hands on knees, gasping, the Arctic air searing her lungs. Squints into the dark and feels a rush of bitter relief. Not a hallucination. Really there. A patch of open water. The driver told her about this the day she arrived. In December the pond is covered in ice, he said, ice so thick they hold hockey matches on it. Except right here, at this spot. The city keeps this northeast corner heated year-round. "For the ducks!" he chortled. And sure enough, through the gloom she can see their little bodies, tucked into themselves for warmth, still and silent. Living, breathing ducks, asleep on the water. How do they survive the winters here? How does anyone survive the winters here? She whips her head around, suddenly alert, eyes and ears straining in the dark. There's no one behind her. The only sounds she hears are her own hard breath and the faint splish-splash as she steps into the shallow. From her pocket she pulls a stick of lipstick, blood-red. Stares at it, her heart pounding. She isn't supposed to know. Isn't supposed to know about any of it. But she does. Hands trembling from the cold, she twists the lipstick open, pulls up her shirt with one hand and with the other scrawls a single word upside-down across her abdomen. Then lets the lipstick fall from her fingers. She strips out of her clothes, tossing each item behind her. Stark naked, she takes a few more steps into the water. Another flurry of snowflakes falls around her, the air a blast freezer on her skin. Teeth chattering, she kneels. Places her palms down against the shallow pond floor. Slides down onto her stomach and pushes herself away from the edge with her feet, propelling with her arms, each stroke drawing her further toward the pond's center. After a moment her outstretched fingers find the lip of the ice sheet. She slips underneath the ice, then twists around so that her back is to the pond floor, her face to the ice above. Stretches out her arms as wide as she can. And pushes farther in. Excerpted from Cold Fear: A Thriller by Brandon Webb, John David Mann All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.